Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I welcome this debate and am pleased to speak in it. I watched a television programme recently in which Bob Geldof explained the background to the Live 8 concerts this summer. He made the very simple point, of which we are all aware, that our understanding of development and the connections between the developed and developing worlds has changed in the past 20 years. We have moved from concentrating on the need to give aid to a position in which we collectively believe we should not only give aid but also ensure justice in the trading and other mechanisms that exist between the developing and developed worlds.

Ireland needs to move on in this regard. Much attention has rightly been paid to the failure of the Government to live up to its commitment to meet the UN development goals. That is a very important political issue but the subject we are debating today, that is, the position the Minister should adopt on behalf of the people in the negotiations in Hong Kong, is equally if not more important. It makes no sense for us to give development aid to countries while taking from them in other respects.

I am very impressed with the trade officials who take part in the negotiations on our behalf. On speaking to them, I noted they are decent, hard-working and very competent. However, when one analyses how we negotiate, it seems they and perhaps the Government, which they represent more than anyone else, are unable to move beyond the traditional dictum that applies in international negotiations to the effect that one should look after one's own interests. If one asks questions on particular policy areas, one will note that self-interest is ultimately the bottom line that has guided us in negotiations of this kind. This is out of line and wrong. It is not in accord with our collective view that there is a need to secure justice in the trade negotiations in which we take part.

Listening only to those protecting both vested interests and a status quo that does not work effectively in this country and kills people in other countries at the same time should not inform our negotiating position in Hong Kong and elsewhere. We need to move towards a new paradigm and participate genuinely in trying to make the Doha Round a development round rather than one that serves our interests. As sure as eggs are eggs, if there are negotiations in which the powerful and rich in this country follow their own interests, the poor, who have fewer resources and less ability to enforce rules that would benefit them, will end up disenfranchised and worse off, as has been the outcome of so many of the previous WTO rounds.

By taking this more generous and just approach to negotiations, we will still benefit ourselves. The status quo does not provide us with the wealth and security we seek in our economy. It is wrong for us to go to Hong Kong or elsewhere to protect an agricultural system that does not work and to justify export subsidies that are immoral and greatly destructive in the very countries we are trying to develop by way of development aid granted by the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan. We need to separate the different strands of this issue. I do not agree with the comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, that we need a balance between our agricultural position and that on services and industrial access. We need to do what is right, that is, abolish the export subsidies that do such harm rather than huddle with the French at the negotiations in Hong Kong and try to prevent progress. We should be willing to give. This would be a progressive step for Irish farmers.

I am committed utterly to our making a switch in energy policy. There are approximately 21 renewable energy technologies to which we can turn, most of which could be provided by Irish farmers who would develop an enterprising market of real value and generate real income in a way that would benefit poorer countries. The use of such technologies would reduce emissions.

Environmental justice and development justice are inextricably linked. The negotiations proceeding in Montreal and Hong Kong are connected. Our pollution and emissions put at risk the lives of the 2 billion poorest people on the planet who live closest to nature. If nature changes because of our activities, these people are put at risk. The poorest countries will have an opportunity to improve their lot if what I propose is acted upon because the mechanisms developed to solve climate change will recognise that those countries which have not being polluting have the ability to trade their way out of poverty. They will be able to raise their emission levels while developed countries will have to make cuts.

The solutions environmentalists espouse are free trade solutions. We believe permit trading and other mechanisms will achieve the necessary balance. We are not against free trade but it must be fair and just. While protecting our vested interests, we should take the lead in this regard, as Bob Geldof, Bono and other Irish people have done. Our politicians should follow suit because that is what the Irish people want.

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